Gimme a Break Meets Yet Another 80s Orphan
Gayest Episode Ever
“Nell and the Kid” (April 28, 1983) As if network TV didn’t have enough sitcoms about non-biological parents stepping in to care for parentless children, Gimme a Break — itself a show about a woman acting as a substitute mother for three girls — has a second season episode in which Nell Carter’s character meets a spunky orphan (LaShana Dendy) and then entrusts her to the care of the neighborhood deli owner (Don Rickles). It didn’t end up becoming its own series, but Drew and Glen are pretty sure that this serves as a sort of soft launch for another show that has the same premise...
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We Can Be Sad About Matthew Perry Dying and Still Think Friends Is Homophobic
Gayest Episode Ever
“The One With the Memorial Service” (March 13, 2003) Since Matthew Perry died, the tone of conversations about Friends has shifted from looking at all the reasons it wasn’t so great to trying to focus on the reasons we like it. That’s fair. Grief does that. But in seeking comfort in Friends, let’s not rush to thinking that Chandler Bing was something more than one long-running gay panic joke. Matthew Perry was a great comedic actor and we enjoy him delivering a one-liner with perfect timing, but we can acknowledge that without giving Friends a pass for its homophobia. Here’s that...
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The Complete History of George Costanza’s Homosexuality
Gayest Episode Ever
“The Note” (September 18, 1991) Seinfeld kicked off its third season with a rather risky premiere about George’s dick twitching during a massage from a man. What follows is a more earnest exploration of gay panic than you might expect from a Must See TV sitcom, and it happens to be the most in-depth look at George’s complex sexuality, though we will also be discussing every other time that Seinfeld implied that he’s something other than straight. An unblemished record of staunch heterosexuality? Yeah, sure, George. There is a video companion to this episode! You can see all of the...
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The Sarah Silverman Program Has Gigantic, Orange Gays
Gayest Episode Ever
“Muffin’ Man” (March 1, 2007) You know what’s super complicated? The Sarah Silverman Program. It’s funny, but just talking about why it’s funny in 2023 necessitates a lot of discussion of controversial topics including but not limited to ironic racism, straight dudes playing gay characters, January 6 and several people who are now canceled. Nonetheless, Drew (and not Glen, because Glen is not in this episode) is joined by to discuss why this show’s queer representation was novel and still should be important all these years later. And yes, if you’re like “I could swear...
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Benson Literally Plays a Game With Death
Gayest Episode Ever
Happy Halloween! You're getting this week’s episode one day early because it is, in fact, a Halloween episode. “The Stranger” (October 25, 1985) Benson may have been a more conventional sitcom than Soap, the show it spun off, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t have its exceedingly weird moments — including this final season Halloween special in which Benson must play a trivia game with death personified in order to save the lives of 41 hapless schoolchildren. It’s basically the last moment in time an otherwise grounded sitcom could get away with this, and we’re lucky to have on...
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Two Guys, a Girl and a Post-Scream Slasher Halloween
Gayest Episode Ever
Want to watch this episode, which is not streaming and is hard to find online? You can do that right now ! “Two Guys, a Girl and a Psycho Halloween” (October 28, 1998) It didn’t want to be Friends. It really tried to give the cast real jobs, at the very least. But in the end, Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place lost the workplace setting and added three more characters, essentially becoming another Friends wannabe. Along the way, however, it had some genuinely funny episodes and even did a non-canonical Halloween special that killed off the entire cast in the style of Scream-inspired...
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Family Matters Does Dracula
Gayest Episode Ever
“Dark and Stormy Night” (October 28, 1994) We’ve talked before how Family Matters has a more liberal take on typical hijinx than most sitcoms, but the show’s sixth season Halloween episode went full on Dracula — by which we mean Francis Ford Coppola. It’s really ambitious! And Hariette has never looked sexier! And we’re very stoked to have on hand to discuss it because not everyone would be able to spot this darkling little gem hidden in the 1994 TGIF lineup. Listen to Michael’s podcast — and in particular listen to the episode . It’s a hoot. Watch Glen's episode of...
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Ghosts Has a Gay Revolutionary War Ghost
Gayest Episode Ever
“D&D” (November 18, 2021) Beware the gay ghost! What are the odds that when your friend writes a book about Baron von Steuben, allegedly gay Revolutionary War hero, there would also be a current sitcom that features a gay Revolutionary War character? Pretty slim, we’d say! But this happy coincidence allowed us to not only promote new book, , but also to dive into Ghosts, the CBS sitcom that is one of the more popular sitcoms on TV today. We’re happy to report that being a CBS sitcom means something quite different today than it did just a few years ago. You should probably...
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Fine, We Will Cover Ellen’s Big Coming Out Episode
Gayest Episode Ever
“The Puppy Episode” (April 30, 1997) After a great deal of self-reflection, we decided that maybe it was worth discussing the most famous episode of Ellen Degeneres’ 90s sitcom, even if it is the most analyzed piece of LGBTQ-centric television ever. Whether we were correct in thinking this remains up to you, but we nonetheless have offerings of talking points about this hourlong coming out extravaganza, including but not limited to how much of this show’s latter existence was dedicated to meta commentary. If nothing else, Ellen — the person *and* the show — understood how...
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A Queer History of SNL, Part Two
Gayest Episode Ever
And here is the second half of our two-part opener for this new season. In this episode, we look at LGBTQ-themed recurring Saturday Night Live sketches airing in the year 2000 and beyond. Basically, this one gets us from The Girl With No Gaydar to Bowen Yang, and that’s actually a pretty good synopsis for the evolution of queer-inclusive humor of on this show. Our next installment will be the first deep dive into a specific era of SNL, starting with the “Not Ready for Prime Time” era, and that will be coming in November. So look forward to that — and meanwhile prepare for a little...
info_outline“The Zack Tapes” (December 2, 1989)
What’s gay about Saved By the Bell, aside from Slater’s singlets and Tori’s leather jacket? Well, there is one episode that very briefly demonstrated that same-sex attraction was a thing — on Saturday morning, no less. It’s all he more surprising because the new Saved By the Bell manages to make amends for all the things the original series did wrong except feature any kind of same-sex love. And yes, we’re doing this episode because we really dug the reboot anyway.
Watch the little-seen original pilot for Good Morning, Miss Bliss here, and watch the very un-Saved By the Bell opening credits here.
The Neverending Story theme as performed by Kids Incorporated is as weird as Glen remembers.
Watch Leanna Creel appear alongside her triplet sisters in The Cell, the one movie they made together that didn’t star Hayley Mills.
Also check out these promo photos of Tori, Jessie and Kelly all in the same place at the same time, thereby nullifying the Tori Paradox.
Listen to Go Bayside, the SbtB podcast that inspired Talking Simpsons, which in turn inspired this show.
Shop for Gayest Episode Ever shirts, totes and more on our TeePublic page.
Buy Glen’s movie, Being Frank.
Support us on Patreon! Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE on Twitter • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter
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The outro track for this episode is “Go for It” by the little-known Los Angeles girl group Hot Sundae. Listen to it on YouTube here.